William Shakespeare’s Star Wars®

Verily, a New Hope

“An elegant translation for a more civilized age. Let's face it—if you love Shakespeare or Star Wars half as much as I do, you've already bought this.”
—Adam Bertocci, author of Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, writer-director of Brooklyn Force and Run Leia Run, and moderator of TheForce.net

“Whether your tastes run to Alderaan or Avon, this reimagining of Star Wars overflows with heart and wit."
—Jason Fry, author of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare

"Doescher’s pseudo-Shakespearean language is absolutely dead-on; this is one of the best-written Shakespeare parodies created for this audience and it is absolutely laugh-out-loud funny for those familiar with both The Bard and Star Wars." --School Library Journal

"At last, the mother of all mashups is upon us."--CNET.com

"As Shakespeare would say, you might think, this be madness, yet there is a method in 't."—Newsday

"Ian Doescher has reimagined the entire first Star Wars film as an Elizabethan play, complete with iambic pentameter and elaborate illustrations. It's geekception." —The Mary Sue

Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

IAN DOESCHER has loved Shakespeare since eighth grade and was born 45 days after Star Wars Episode IV was released. He has a B.A. in Music from Yale University, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Ethics from Union Theological Seminary. Ian lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and two sons. This is his first book.